How an interview might look when a candidate uses AI for their responses.
Graduates applying to Mishcon de Reya will have a virtual interview with an AI tool as part of the recruitment process.
Mishcon is trialling an AI tool called Bright Apply, which uses information from candidates’ applications to start a conversation, resulting in “a tailored interview”.
Instead of writing out a long application form, the firm said that candidates will “take part in a virtual interview where they can expand on their experiences, motivations, and why Mishcon de Reya is the right fit.”
A transcript is then produced which the firm’s recruitment team can review.
Mishcon said that feedback had been positive, so far, with almost 75% of students giving the experience 4 or 5 out of 5, in an anonymous survey. And 93% of students said the AI chat responses felt personalised and relevant to them, with one saying: “I loved how the questions were personalised to my experiences. I loved how I was able to expand on my experiences and the AI came up with great prompts. Overall, this has been my favourite application process.”
However, there have been less enthusiastic reviews on the online forum Reddit.
One candidate said the AI interviewer kept asking “the same questions in different ways”. The “incredibly long” process took the candidate “hours to finish”. The interview was “unstructured” with a huge number of “sections” to get through, and with “no indication” on the number of questions for each section.
Another student, also commenting on Reddit, had a similar experience: “It continued asking me questions for over 3 hours, often repeating itself and showing poor understanding of the answers I’d given it. In all – a dehumanising experience and a real waste of valuable time.”
While one candidate summed up their interview: “Nightmarish stuff, I hated it.”
Daniel Lipman, Partner and Training Principal at Mishcon de Reya, told RollOnFriday: “I am disappointed to hear that some candidates didn’t enjoy their application experience. We work very hard on our recruitment processes to ensure that they work well for candidates and give everyone the best possible opportunity to get to know us and for us to get to know them.”
He added: “In line with most large organisations, we also use AI and other tools to help us provide the best experience for candidates and ensure our recruitment processes are fair and transparent.”
Given that law firms are using AI in other areas of the business, it shouldn’t be a surprise that some are using it in their recruitment process. However, given that RollOnFriday has heard of candidates submitting AI applications, it raises the prospect of candidates’ AI talking to the firm’s AI, with no human involvement in the virtual interview stage.
The robots running the legal profession in the future may note that 2025 was a significant year towards their domination, with AI businesses springing up in law; AI replacing jobs; students being told to use AI at law schools; and firms embracing AI with initiatives such as offering bonuses to staff, and appointing chief AI officers.